The Path: Liminal Twilight and Dead Moon – The Burning of the Light (Review)

Things have gotten decidedly weirder and darker in The Path. Season two started with a two episode premiere. “Liminal Twilight” and “Dead Moon” take the storyline deeper than before and in many aspects the whole Steven Meyer plot has become convoluted and a tad confusing.

Eddie still wears the mantle of “Denier,” Sarah and he are still uneasily sharing time with their kids and Cal has gotten that little bit more out of control. Abe is now in Rung One training (undercover) and Steven Meyer woke up only to die. He was apparently pushed off the cliff by either Eddie or Cal.

(Eddie in the visionary state or Cal in real-life.)

In the first of two episodes we re-live Eddie’s vision of Meyer. So far so good. However, the movement leaders, which includes Richard, are shown Steven’s body. He appears to have fallen off the mountain and died.

But…

A local deaf man drew a picture of Meyer’s fall and it looks like another white man pushed him. Richard believes it is Eddie. It could have been Cal, after all, the fractured and mentally unbalanced leader did visit Steve.

Or, did the deaf man actually see “spirit” Eddie arguing with spirit Steve? It is all a bit confusing. What is not, however, is the steady deterioration of Cal Roberts. The self-made leader is getting out of control and despite asking Sarah to lead with him, Cal is struggling to maintain the reins of control.

In the first episode, he wildly overbids for a building he wants for the movement. By the end of this segment, he shows Sarah Silas’ body. She makes him dig her old mentor up and Cal then lies and tells Lane that the man’s death was an accident.

In the meantime, Eddie and Hawk are drifting further apart as evidenced by the boy’s indifference and hostility towards his father at each “illegal” visit. Summer, on the other hand, enjoys the time she spends with dad.

Sarah is visibly shaken by the truth of Silas’ death and it is this guilty knowledge of Cal’s murderous act that comes across as “leakage” when she has a session with Richard.

Abe continues to work undercover in the organization to bring Cal down and it is his efforts that keep the Meyerist’s from gaining tax exemption as a religion. This forfeiture of a religious tax status causes more problems and Cal insists that Mary and Sarah accompany him to a fund raising get together.

Once there, Cal blows it by simultaneously asking for money while denigrating the party members’ lifestyle and monetary worth. Sarah comes close to having sex with an invited guest and Cal punches the man in the stomach after he acts like a boor.

Out in the woods Hawk’s new friend (played by Hunters actress Britne Oldford) confesses that she fears the dark. After opening up, the two connect in a deep and meaningful way and the second episode ends with Hawk apparently levitating. (Or in the parlance of the Meyerist movement, floating up to the next rung of the ladder.)

Eddie sleeps with his dead brother’s wife. She does not notice the new “tree-like” red veins extending up his back and it looks like Lane may now have a new woman in his life. Cal is still somewhat obsessed with Sarah who may be warming up despite the fact that he killed Silas.

The Path has managed to shift gears and take things to another level. It is now difficult to understand who killed Steven. The visions of him choosing Eddie to “be his son” intermingled with his protestations on the vision mountaintop, are confusing.

The Hawk levitation brings back a certain amount of mysticism but at the end of the day, we do not know whether the young Lane really lifted up into the air or whether he imagined it.

Clearly things are going to be heading south even faster now that leaders of the movement believe that Eddie went to Peru to kill Steven. Cal’s meltdown is also accelerating as is Sarah’s loss of calm. With Abe, hiding in the group in plain site, season two could turn out to be explosive.